Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development

Prof Chris Winberg winbergc@cput.ac.za

Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development supports research into teaching and learning across the faculties, and a number of CPUT staff members engaged in their doctoral and master’s studies are currently supervised by Fundani academics. Approximately R1.5 million was disbursed to faculty members in order to conduct classroom-based research in 2014 under the DVC: Teaching & Learning’s RIFTAL project. The RIFTAL budget was considerably expanded due to generous support from the DHET’s Teaching Development Grant. Many staff presented the results of their research at the annual CPUT Research into Teaching and Learning (RITAL) Conference at Granger Bay in December. Research conducted through Fundani thus contributes significantly to improving teaching and learning at the university, which ultimately impacts student retention and throughput.

to staff from all faculties developing research proposals using his theoretical framework of Legitimation Code Theory. This research work is contributing to the curriculum renewal project at CPUT. Fundani also hosted Prof Arie Rip from the University of Twente, an internationally renowned expert in the field of Science and Technology studies, in November. Prof Rip facilitated an Innovation Journey workshop for CPUT, and worked with Fundani and the Deputy Dean of Health Sciences on a proposal for a Science, Technology and Society research unit within the faculty.

Two writing for publication breakaways in cooperation with SU, UWC and UCT were held for Fundani and faculty staff in 2015, with the aim of producing accredited and useful teaching and learning articles in 2015/16; these were for extended curriculum staff and RIFTAL grantholders.

Conference (RITAL), titled Reclaiming Quality: Enhancing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in HE.

Fundani staff members were co-researchers in and made significant research contributions to the national collaborative NRF project Structure culture and agency in academic development, which was extended for an extra two years. Staff members are also participants in the international academic development project New knowledge in the work-group: An inquiry into the meso-level dynamics of teaching, learning and curriculum change, with universities in the UK, Australia and Sweden. Staff were part of a round table discussion on this topic at the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED) in Sweden in June. Both projects contribute to understanding the efficacy of teaching staff development, hence improving teaching in the university.

Highlights for 2014

The first highlight was the visit of Dr Mary Lea, a Reader in Academic and Digital Literacies in the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University in the UK. Dr Lea was also the keynote speaker at the Academic Literacies: Scholarship, Research and Practice in the South African Context, a regional colloquium held at Granger Bay in April. Secondly, Fundani welcomed Prof Karl Maton from the University of Sydney, who acted as a mentor

Fundani organised and hosted three additional colloquia/conferences in 2014. The first of these was the National Language Indaba in May at Granger Bay. The colloquium focus was on multilingualism in higher education, and was opened by Prof Russell Kaschula, head of the School of Languages at Rhodes University. The second research event was the regional Innovative Pedagogical Practices in Extended Curriculum Programmes (ECP) colloquium in August. In December, Fundani organised the 5th Annual University Teaching Research

Fundani staff were invited to teach on the research module of the Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education and on the regional CHEC research course for academic staff. Three Fundani staff members, Drs Ralarala, Hassan and Ivala, were promoted to Associate Professor in 2014. Furthermore, Fundani has been awarded R1.5 million from the DHET to coordinate research nationally into the efficacy of certain staff development and student learning interventions.

ACADE mi C E x CHAN g E P r O gr A mm E RESEARCHER

Ivala EN

CONFE r ENCE F u ND i N g (CONFCO m ) RESEARCHER